A Repeat of Past Events
by Number 15
Summary: 1 year after the events of OoT, and evil is affecting Hyrule again. Ganondorf has somehow escaped his prison and history is starting to repeat. ON INDEFINITE HIATUS
1. Dreams of a Boy

This is my first fic in a while! Yay. I hope it turns out well and goes beyond 6 chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OoT characters. If I did, Kaepora Gaebora would be dead and Ruto would be wearing clothing. (Naked fish-women freak me out) I do, however, own Tarin.

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_It was a bedroom, with tan-colored textured walls covered in sketches, charcoal and pastel drawings, and paintings on scrap pieces of paper. There was a desk in one corner, piled with books, more papers, pens, pencils, and half-open notebooks. Across the room was a bed with a rumpled dark blue and green comforter with a light green dresser beside it. On top of the dresser was a lamp and a clock that read 7:47 p. m._

_A boy with brown hair stepped into the room. He was wearing a red t-shirt and blue plaid pajama bottoms and looked to be about 8. A blond tail swished back and forth behind him. He looked concerned._

_The bedroom began to dissolve into darkness._

_  
Now it was a field, in the midst of a dense fog. Another boy, about 11 or 12 and also with a tail, came running out of the fog and into the area in front of a castle drawbridge, continuing onto the drawbridge. Halfway across, there was the sound of hoof beats, and a white horse with two riders came galloping out, forcing the boy to bail into the moat._

"Ah! Cold!"

Tarin's eyes snapped open and he sat up. For a moment, he was confused. He could have sworn he had just fallen into some sort of body of water. He felt his face, hair, and bare chest, but they were dry.

"Darn it, not that dream again."

For the last year, Tarin had had an unusual dream about every other night. It involved an odd room and a castle, but he never could remember anymore of the details, like people. He assumed the castle was Hyrule castle, since that was the only castle around. He'd never even been to the castle town, though, so he wasn't sure why he was dreaming about it. Maybe he should go there.

Tarin got out of his bed, which wasn't so much as bed as a mat with a pillow and blanket, threw on a shirt, and went outside. Outside, it was completely overcast, the sky threatening rain but withholding it, as if to say "I could drop this on you anytime, but I'm going to keep you in suspense. Ha!" All around, Tarin could see some other residents working, or in the case of children, playing. A cucco ran by, closely pursued by a little girl in a green dress, and an old woman tottered up the stairs between the new building and the Skulltula house. On the roof directly across from Tarin, a man was hanging over the edge, hammering on something.

(A/N: Tarin's house is the house in the lower right corner of Kakariko village, the one behind Impa's house.)

Tarin ran to the edge of the little cliff in front of his house and jumped down, startling the old woman. He turned and ran towards the graveyard, but stopped very shortly at the Cucco pen.

"Uhm, Miss Kira," Tarin asked the Cucco Lady, tugging on her apron a bit. That was her nickname because of all the cuccos she owned. To Tarin, she was either Kira or "Mother" because she was his adoptive mother, although she was only 8 years older.

Kira was holding a nearly empty bag of feed and sprinkling it at one end of the cucco pen. When she felt a tug on her apron, she emptied the bag, dusted off her hands, and turned to the speaker.

"Yes? Oh, Tarin, you're awake. Good morning." She dropped the empty bag and bent down to envelop Tarin in a hug.

"I had a strange dream," Tarin said after the two had broken apart. "I think Hyrule castle was in it."

Kira processed this information. She, too, had been having a recurring odd dream. However, she had only begun to have it a couple months ago. It dealt with a man in black, and eight colored lights that destroyed the man. It took place in the castle town. She looked at Tarin, who had jumped over the small pen fence and was being chased by two cuccos, and smiled faintly.

"Hyrule castle, huh?" she said aloud. "You're very lucky today, because I have to go to the market and purchase more cucco feed. Would you like to come with me?"

From the pen, there came a "yes!" followed by "ow, stop pecking me!" and "leave me alone, evil birds!"

In the castle, the King and his daughter were sitting down to breakfast. Zelda wasn't very happy, as she wanted desperately to be outdoors, but knew that it wasn't very likely that she would be _let_ outdoors. But she had a plan. Zelda began eating her food as quickly as she could, not caring if she appeared unladylike. "Being ladylike" was _not_ one of her top priorities. When she was done, she dabbed her napkin at her lips, pushed back her chair, and stood up.

"Father, may I be excused to my room?"

"Yes, you may."

Zelda walked until she was out of sight of her father, then picked up her skirts, took off her shoes, and ran the rest of the way to her room. She failed to notice the large man dressed in black standing in a side hallway.

"Time for part two." Zelda smiled as she opened the trunk at the end of her bed.

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Please Read and Review! 


	2. Hyrule Castle Town

This fanfic is going pretty well. I actually have motivation to work on it. Unfortunately, it seems that when I upload the chapters, my page breaks keep disappearing. That's rather irritating. Anyhow, I shall try to fix that. Hope you enjoy chapter two!

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda or any characters, items, enemies, etc. affiliated with it. Miyamoto does. I own Tarin, and a couple other characters.

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"Wow! Is this the castle?" Tarin asked, looking around. He was very excited; both his face and his voice showed this, as well as his tail, which was quickly brushing back and forth across the stones that made up the "road".

Hyrule Castle Town was very busy that day. There were all kinds of outdoor shops selling fruit and vegetables, an enormous crate of cuccos guarded by a large man, and a busy auction, just to name the main points of interest. There were some kids playing in the fountain and a pair of girls chasing a cucco around and around. Tarin figured it must've been a girl thing to chase the birds.

Kira laughed. "No, this is Hyrule Castle Town. The castle is up that way." She pointed to it. "I do not want you to go to the castle unless I am with you, understand? I do not want you causing trouble for the guards," Kira warned.

Of course, Tarin wasn't listening. He was watching the kids in the fountain. There were four of them—three boys and a girl—and all of them appeared to be younger than Tarin, with the exception of two boys, one blond and one with red hair.

"Hey, wanna play with us, mister?" the little girl called out to Tarin, wading over to the edge and climbing out.

"'M-mister'? Who, me?" Tarin pointed to himself, and the girl nodded. "No, that's okay, I can't. Sorry."

Tarin moved away from the fountain and went back to the entrance, deciding to explore the town in a circle—that way he'd know whether or not he had missed a shop. He passed by a crowded stand where several large women were shouting.

"What do you mean, forty rupees? You told her half that!"

"Of course he did. Anyone can tell I'm much prettier than you, and therefore deserve a discount."

"'Prettier'! The only thing you're prettier than is a Skulltula."

Tarin put his hands over his ears and quickened his pace to get past the women. He slowed again to stare at a woman who wasn't selling anything, but would pay any amount of money to buy other people's junk. Tarin continued until he found a shooting gallery and went inside. Kira had given him fifty rupees to spend for himself, and it was only twenty for a shooting game, which also came with a slingshot and a bag of twenty Deku seeds.

"If ya shoot twenty or more rupees, ya get yar money back. If ya shoot thirty or more rupees, ya get thirty-five rupees. If ya shoot forty-five or more, ya get ta keep tha slingshot. If ya get more'n sixty, ya get a hundred rupees," the man at the counter explained. "Start when yar ready."

Tarin stepped up to the divider, and right when he did, a bell rang somewhere and two green rupees flew out and stopped beside each other. Tarin shot and hit the left one, shattering it. The right one flew away before he could shoot it. Then a blue one rose out of the center of the range and stopped, allowing Tarin to shoot that one, too. After those came two blue ones side-by-side, then a green in the center, but they didn't stop and Tarin missed them. Tarin hit the next two, two large red rupees that appeared side-by-side, but missed two red ones that went by on ziplines a couple seconds later. A bell rang again, and Tarin stepped away from the range. He reached up and set the remaining seeds on the counter.

"Fifty-one points," the man said. "As I promised, ya get ta keep the slingshot. Thanks for playin'."

Outside, Tarin continued walking, admiring his slingshot and shooting pretend Deku seeds at townsfolk. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying complete attention to his surroundings, and doing this caused him to run into one of the girls chasing the cucco, knocking them both to the ground.

"Ow!"

"Oops. Are you okay?" Tarin held out his free hand to help her up. She had blond hair that was plaited in the back, blue eyes, and paler skin than Tarin had seen on normal people. Her green dress was a little too small for her and torn in some places.

The girl didn't get up, but instead leaned to the side, as if trying to see something behind Tarin.

"Am I in the way?" Tarin asked, shifting his position a bit. Just then, his tail decided to come around and curl around his right leg. The girl's eyes became wider.

"A tail? You have a tail?"

"Yes?" It was a question, because Tarin was confused, since the girl seemed excited about it, rather than confused. Most people _were_ confused; Tarin was one-of-a-kind. The girl jumped up and grabbed Tarin's hand in both of hers.

"Can you…can you come to the castle? Right away?" she whispered. Tarin nodded. He had never been this close to a girl before and didn't know what to say. Was she going to kiss him or something?

"Great! See you then!" She ran off.

_The castle? Why does she want me to come to the castle? Maybe she wants to show me a secret passage into the castle."_

Since he was in front of the path that led to the castle anyway, Tarin started running that way. During this, an odd thought popped into his head. _I wonder what's on TV right now._ It made him wonder what exactly "TV" was and why he wondered what was on it. Oh well. Maybe it was a kind of food.

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:D I kinda like this chapter. A cyber cookie to whoever can guess who the blond girl is before the next chapter. 


	3. The Guards Really Aren't That Smart

Hey, this is going pretty well. Already to chapter three and it doesn't suck! Now, I know that I didn't address some things about Tarin yet, and I shall. It has also come to my attention that blue rupees are worth **5** and not **10**. Sorry.

DoomGirl: Yes, it is Zelda. gives a cookie As for your second question, Tarin has a tail for no particular reason. He was just created that way. I mean, it doesn't really serve any special purpose, and it doesn't grant him any powers or anything. It's just the way he is. Does that help?

Snowsilver: Tarin's 12.

Also, a bit of a physical description of Tarin. He's average height for his age, has messy black hair, fairly unremarkable skin tone, and dark brown tail. He has dark blue eyes, a small nose, and somewhat of a feminine face, except rounder. He's wearing a gold-colored tunic, light brown pants with a black belt, and dark brown boots. Hope that helps my readers.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Zelda series. It's owned by Miyamoto and Nintendo. Link is a cool guy and I wish Kaepora Gaebora were dead.

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Tarin entered the outer courtyard and marveled again at the castle. He could see it better from where he was, but unfortunately he could also see that it was quite well guarded. He sighed and went over to a nearby tree to sit down, rest, and think of a plan to get past the guards. 

"Hello Tarin," greeted a voice above his head

"Wah!" Tarin jumped and turned his head from side to side, looking for the source of the voice. "Huh? Who?"

"I'm up here."

Tarin craned his neck back to look up into the branches. "Uhm…hello." He was staring at an owl that was easily as big as he was, if not larger. His eyes got really wide and he scrambled out from underneath the tree.

"Hoo hoo," the owl laughed at Tarin, if one could call it a laugh, and ruffled its feathers. "No need to be frightened. My name is Kaepora Gaebora, and I'm here to help you."

"Just…don't scare me like that again, please." Tarin replied, still trying to calm down from the shock at meeting an overlarge owl. Then he frowned. "Help me with what?"

"Hoo Hooo. You seek an audience with the princess?"

Tarin nodded. Perhaps the owl was going to offer him a ride onto the roof, or maybe tell him a place where he could sneak in. To his disappointment, the owl began telling him the layout of the entire outer courtyard, where the guards were positioned, and what their movement patterns were. Tarin half-listened to the lecture.

"Did you get all that?" Kaepora Gaebora asked.

"Uh…yes, yes I did. Thank you." Tarin freaked out a bit when he realized that Kaepora Gaebora was looking at him upside down, as he had turned his head around. The owl turned his head right side up, spread his wings, and flew away. Tarin sighed.

"That didn't help me at all. Oh, hey, maybe I could climb this wall and get a better view." Tarin walked over to the rock wall a few meters away and tugged on the vines. They were sturdy, so he put a foot on the wall, grabbed a vine with both hands, and began climbing. A couple minutes (and two falls) later, he was on top of the wall, which was actually a long, wide ledge. To his surprise, there was someone _else_ up there, a girl with long, red hair.

She was wearing a white dress with a blue pattern along the hem and sleeves, brown boots, and an orange scarf. She was sitting down, with her feet dangling over the edge of the wall and holding something in her lap. When Tarin came near, she turned towards him.

"Hi there. I've never seen you here before. Do you live in town?"

"No, I live in Kakariko Village. I'm just visiting…I wanted to see the castle closer up," Tarin replied.

"Oh. I don't live here either. I live on the farm just outside town. My name's Malon." She stood up, and Tarin could see that she held a cucco in her arms.

"I'm Tarin." He edged away from the cucco slightly.

Malon laughed. "Don't be afraid of him; he won't peck you. He's my favorite. Hey, could you do me a favor, Mr. Tarin?"

"Sure." Tarin shrugged.

"My father went to deliver some milk to the castle. He hasn't come back yet, and I think he fell asleep _again_. You're going to the castle, right? Take this cucco with you, and wake up my father. Please?" She held the chicken out to Tarin, who took it with slightly trembling arms.

"Good luck."

Tarin glared at the cucco before stuffing it into his tunic and tucking the cloth into his pants. The bird clucked in disapproval, but allowed his new temporary owner to carry him. Tarin reached the stone gate, which formed a bridge across to the other side. Unfortunately, a guard was standing at the other side, although his back was turned to Tarin. _Great, now how am I going to get over there?_

Then he happened to look down. Right in front of him, almost insultingly obvious, was a hole with a ladder leading down. Tarin crouched down as well as he could with the cucco in his shirt and started climbing down the ladder, none too soon, as the guard turned around a second later.

At the bottom of the ladder, there was a small room with a door. Tarin opened the door and peeked out to make sure there weren't any guards directly outside. There wasn't, so he quickly stepped out and dashed over to the base of the hill on the other side of the path. There were two guards patrolling the length of the path, one starting at one end and the other starting at the other so that they crossed in the middle. Tarin watched them; they were almost ready to pass one another, and when they did, he would

"Move!" he whispered an order to himself. He dashed up the slope and across the ground as fast as he possibly could, until he hit a rough wall. Not wanting to lose momentum, he scrambled up the wall.

"Haha…this isn't too hard. Be _quiet_, you!" He poked the lump in his tunic. "Now what do I do?" He looked around. He couldn't very well go back, but he could walk in the front door, either. The raised drawbridge and guards made sure of that. Then he noticed the moat. It looked pretty shallow, and he wasn't that tall, so he could probably walk behind the guards and around. Tarin backed up a few paces, began running, and jumped. He landed in the moat with a bigger splash than he had anticipated, and immediately froze, praying to the goddesses that the guards hadn't seen or heard him. The cucco chose that moment to start squawking.

"Did you hear that?"

"The cucco? I heard it. I'll bet one of the maids left a window open again. The same thing happened last week. Don't worry about it."

"You're serious?"

Tarin managed to quiet the chicken down and hold in a laugh at the same time. He was sure that the guards were stupid a few minutes earlier, and now he was even more sure. Slowly, he trudged through the waist high water of the moat to the corner, where he climbed out. To his surprise, there was a large man lying on the ground near some crates, snoring very loudly. Tarin approached him and prodded his stomach.

"Mister? Are you alright?" _This must be Malon's dad._

The man rolled over, mumbling something about his name being Talon and "welcome to Lon Lon Ranch."

Tarin kicked him hard. "Hey, get up. Your daughter wants you." No response. Tarin set the chicken on Talon's stomach. The bird pecked at the man's overalls a few times before crowing loudly. Tarin freaked out and ducked behind a crate, but no guards came running. Talon, however, bolted awake.

"What? What? Izzit time to get up already?" He looked at the cucco, and then spotted Tarin. "Is this your cucco?" Tarin shook his head.

"Malon told me to wake you up. It's hers." He replied.

Talon suddenly looked panicked. "Oh no! Malon's gonna kill me! I gotta go!" He grabbed the chicken, stuck it under his arm and dashed off. Tarin didn't think men that large could run that fast.

Meanwhile, in the castle's inner courtyard…

"Impa, I believe I've seen that man somewhere before," Zelda said to her attendant. Zelda was sitting on the steps that led up to a large window, and Impa was standing a few feet to the right. "I haven't a clue where."

Inside the castle, the man dressed all in black paced his temporary bedroom. Soon, the entire castle was going to be his, and no one would be there to stop him. This time, he wasn't going to bother with talking; he was just going to eliminate the _entire_ royal family before they could escape.

Ganondorf Dragmire would not go down again.

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Wuahaha! This was the longest part yet. Now, review! I command you! Heck, Ganondorf commands you. I think... By the way, I don't think that's how Kaepora Gaebora talks, but I really don't like the owl all that much anyway and as a result, he's not going to be seen much in the story. 


	4. The Quest for the Spiritual Stones

Sorry I haven't updated for a while, but I got bad writer's block, and I've had to do a bunch of chores. I'm back now, and here's chapter 4 of A Repeat of Past Events. Enjoy!

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Tarin kicked the door as hard as he possibly could, but nothing happened. Well, nothing happened except that he hurt his foot a lot and was slightly angrier than he had been five minutes prior. He moved away from the door and over to the wall underneath which the moat ran and sat down.

"The door's locked, so I can't go in there. How am I supposed to get in? I don't even know why I want in there!"

Tarin looked towards the town. He had left only about half an hour ago, but it felt like half a day. That was probably due to boredom on his part. He picked up a loose stone that was sitting beside him and chucked it at a large hole in the wall. He turned to look for another stone and stopped. A large hole, in the middle of the castle wall was kind of suspicious. It was square and might have been designed for drainage, but no water was coming out of it currently. There was a design above it—Tarin recognized it as the Triforce. He had seen the design elsewhere, but didn't know what it was, only what it was called. Tarin wondered if everyone was _trying_ to get him into the castle—how the guards failed to notice him sneaking it, and now the square hole. Not wanting to waste an opportunity, Tarin dropped down to an empty ledge below so that he was directly beneath the hole, reached up as far as he could, and managed to grab the edge. He pulled himself up and peered at the hole. It was just his size, and he was glad he wasn't a very tall or heavy. He climbed up and crawled through the hole.

Inside, Tarin ended up in a small dry pool. As far as he could see, the inner courtyard was comprised of a bunch of hedge gardens. And lots of guards. Not far away, to his disappointment, were two guards. He stayed crouched down and moved to the edge of the pool. The guards didn't move. Tarin took out his newly acquired slingshot and searched around for a couple more loose stones. He found one and loaded it into the slingshot, took aim, and fired the stone into a far wall, where it made an dull pinging sound. Immediately, the guards sprang to life and dashed off to investigate the source of the sound. Tarin, meanwhile, leapt from his hiding place, ran full-tilt past the first hedge garden and jumped into a bush in the second garden. Here, two guards patrolled back and forth past a fountain. Tarin waited for the nearest one to turn away, then followed stealthily behind him, continuing past him into the third garden.

This garden was Tarin's immediate favorite. A lone guard patrolled around an open chest full of rupees. Unfortunately, Tarin didn't think he could get close enough to take any, so he dashed past when the guard was turned away.

The last garden was by far the easiest. Two guards patrolled around a square-shaped hedge. Tarin waited, then ran and launched himself into the center of the hedge and ran crouched to the other end of the garden. This time, however, he wasn't so lucky. Tarin tripped over a root and started to swear out loud before clapping a hand over his mouth. Too late.

"Hey, there's a kid in here!"

"What? How?"

"I have no idea. Just get him!"

Both guards were far behind Tarin, but they were adults and he was only a kid. He ran for his life to a clear area and turned with both guards catching up. Tarin saw two people, a woman and a girl, and ran for them. Zelda, meanwhile, had gotten up and was just about to go to her room when she saw two guards and a boy running towards her. She recognized the boy.

"What are you doing!" she demanded of the guards, who immediately stopped. Tarin stopped also, and then backed up, nearly into Impa.

"Your Highness, ma'am, this boy was attempting to sneak through the gardens. We were told to do away with trespassers."

"I don't care what you were told. I'm telling you to leave him be," Zelda said, waving a hand at them as if to shoo them away. "Go on, back to your posts." The guards left. Zelda turned to Tarin, who was staring at her with his mouth slightly open. He tried talking.

"You…you're…you're the…_Princess_? I mean, Your Highness…."

"Please don't call me that," Zelda replied. "My name is Zelda. Just Zelda."

Tarin continued staring at Zelda. She looked to be about his age, maybe a bit older, and was fairly pretty. She was wearing a light pink short-sleeved dress with a darker pink smock over it and a long-sleeved blue dress underneath. The smock had the Triforce design on it, as well as something red that resembled a bird. Around her neck was an ornate gold necklace that matched the belt around her waist. Her hair was covered with a cloth of the same color as her dress and smock, and it too had the Triforce on it. It must be the family crest, Tarin thought. The woman looked like a warrior, with blue-grey tight-fitting armor. Her hair was grey, making her appear fairly aged.

"Nice…to meet you, Z-Zelda. I'm…Tarin. Just Tarin," Tarin said, mimicking Zelda's introduction and holding out his hand. Zelda giggled and shook the proffered hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Tarin. I'm glad you could come."

Something clicked in Tarin's brain. "You were the girl in the marketplace!"

Zelda blushed and looked away. "Yes…I was. I have been disguising myself as a commoner and going into the marketplace every day for weeks, hoping I would run into the person from my dream. Finally I have!"

"Huh? Me? You were looking for me? I was in your dream?" Tarin was confused.

"Yes," Zelda replied. "You see, in my dream, the whole land of Hyrule is enveloped in darkness, and then a young boy with a tail appears in a beam of light. He is holding two stones—a red one and a blue one. Then he is enveloped by the light and joined by seven other beams of light, each a different color, and the darkness is lifted. The dream seems…familiar somehow."

Tarin didn't say anything. He wanted to tell her about his dream, about the one with the fog and the white horse, but he didn't. Instead, he asked if Zelda knew what the stones were supposed to mean.

"Yes, I do know what they symbolize. They are the Spiritual Stones. I am in possession of one of them, given to me by a close friend to watch over." Zelda reached into a pocket in her dress and pulled out a large, round green stone. It looked to Tarin like a leaf. Zelda handed the Stone to Tarin.

"What about the other two Stones?" Tarin asked, carefully putting the Stone in his pocket.

This time, Impa spoke up. "They are in the possession of the Goron and Zora tribes. One year ago, they were given back to those people in order to keep them safe. Her Highness wishes you to retrieve them."

"Impa, don't call me that…" Zelda started, but gave up. "Here, I want you to have this." She took out something else, a dark blue oval-shaped object with holes "This is my ocarina," Zelda explained, pressing the ocarina into Tarin's hands. "Take it with you." Suddenly, she glanced toward the large window far behind her.

Tarin followed her gaze, but saw nothing.

"Princess, is something wrong?" Impa asked, also looking that direction. Zelda motioned for her to bend down, so she obliged, and Zelda whispered something in her ear. Impa's face became worried, and she grabbed Tarin's arm.

"You must leave. I will escort you back into town. Please retrieve the Stones as soon as possible."

Later…

"Tarin! There you are! I told you not to go near the castle!" Kira caught Tarin in a bear hug, threatening to crush him.

"Ki-Kira…s-stop it. I was only gone…for a little while." Tarin said. Kira let him go and stood up. "Did he cause you any trouble, miss?" she asked Impa. Impa shook her head and managed a small smile. "No, he did not."

"That's good. Tarin, we're going home now." She started walking away.

Tarin started to follow, but heard a loud _crack_ and then turned around. He remembered that he wanted to say bye to Impa, but she was gone.

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Ah. Done. Next chapter is when the action starts, I hope. Is it just me or are the chapters getting longer and longer? 


	5. The Song of the Royal Family

Here's chapter 5 of A Repeat of Past Events. I haven't been updating very quickly because of writer's block and the fact that I've been playing a lot of Gamecube games recently and going over to friends' houses.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hyrule or anyone that lives there. Nintendo owns the game, and Miyamoto owns the characters. I own Tarin, and a copy of Ocarina of Time.

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Tarin sat on one of the standing walls of the building that was under construction, facing the entrance to the village, examining the ocarina Zelda had given him. It was in near-perfect condition for a musical instrument, as far as Tarin could tell. The musicians he had seen in Kakariko had old, worn instruments. The ocarina he held in his hands had no chips, no scratches, nothing except the Triforce design on the mouthpiece. Tarin put the instrument to his lips and blew. A shrill note sounded, and he cringed, but then he blew more softly, and it sounded better. He experimented with other notes, covering the holes in different combinations, until he had worked out a scale that seemed to work. 

Suddenly, he saw a blond-haired young man dressed in a brown tunic and pants leaning against the tree in at the entrance. He was playing an ocarina very similar to the one Tarin was holding, and Tarin could hear the tune as clearly as if he were standing right beside the man. Interestingly enough, no one else seemed to be able to hear anything; in fact, Tarin watched a carpenter who was on break walk right past the man with no indication that he had seen anything. It was a soothing tune, a lullaby of some sort. Tarin put his own ocarina to his mouth again and tried to imitate the song being played. His fingers fumbled a bit on the notes, but he managed to get the right ones, although they weren't precisely in time with the young man's playing.

…_lullaby…song of the Royal family of Hyrule…_

"What?" Tarin could have sworn he had just heard a woman's voice, but he didn't see anyone around or immediately below him. In addition to that, the young man was also nowhere to be found. Tarin frowned.

"This is too weird."

Tarin pushed himself off the wall and hit the ground with a dull thud. He needed to talk to Kira again, this time about the Stones he was supposed to collect. He took the one Zelda had given him out of his pocket and turned it over and over in his hands, wondering who the "close friend" Zelda had been talking about was and whether or not it had anything to do with the blond-haired man he had seen earlier. Had he actually even seen the man, or was he imagining it? Tarin shook his head. Collecting the Stones would mean that Tarin would have to leave the village for a while, something he didn't think Kira would let him do without hesitation.

"They are in the possession of the Goron and Zora tribes. They were given back to them one year ago for safekeeping."

"Gorons live up the mountain, and Zoras live in the river. I should go see the Gorons first." Tarin opened the door to his house and stepped inside.

A few minutes later… 

Kira turned the green Stone over in her own hands, examining it intently, as if she were searching for something that would reveal it to be, say, a piece of colored glass. She found nothing.

"I've heard of these…the Spiritual Stones," she told Tarin. "The legend goes that if the right person has all three stones in the right place, something incredible will happen."

"Really?" Tarin sat up. He had been lying on the floor, tracing patterns into the floor with the tip of his tail. "Does it say who the person is? Or where they need to take the stones?"

"No, silly. I suppose only the goddesses know who or where." She looked at Tarin and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Uh…n-no reason." He had conveniently "forgotten" to tell her about Zelda's request, saying that Malon had given him the green stone as a thank you for waking up her father. He decided that he would have to sneak up the mountain.

"You should keep this in a safe place," Kira instructed Tarin, handing the stone back. She ruffled his hair and went outside. Two minutes later, Tarin heard her shouting.

"My cuccos have escaped!"

Tarin wondered why she kept cuccos if she was allergic to them. He sighed and went back outside.

That night… 

Tarin slipped out and shut the front door as quietly as he could and headed for the gate that led up to Death Mountain. He had a small pack with him, containing his slingshot, some Deku nuts, a canteen of water, some food, and a coil of rope. Once he arrived at the gate, he was pleased to see that someone had failed to close it. Usually, the gate was closed all night to deter practical joker Gorons who would try to roll down the mountain and through the village. Luck was on Tarin's side.

Tarin started up the path, which was very steep and littered with large boulders. Those were also there to deter the Gorons, but they didn't help much, since Gorons could easily aavoid them, even while rolling. Tarin weaved around the boulders. After about 10 minutes of walking, Tarin reached higher ground, where the path ran into a cave straight ahead and split continued on up the mountain to the right. Tarin took the path up. 10 more minutes later, he was standing in front of the entrace to the Goron city, panting slightly. The gate here was also open, but it seemed to be guarded by two speckled rocks. Tarin approached one of the rocks and prodded it. Nothing happened. He moved over to the other rock and prodded it. It made a growling noise, and Tarin jumped backwards. He turned and ran past the open gate and into the tunnel leading to the city.

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Yes, I have ended this chapter in an odd place. This chapter actually comes in two parts. The second part shall come soon. Review please! Thanks. 


	6. Don't Touch the Merchandise

Wow. 213 hits and only 6 reviews? What's that supposed to mean? Is my fic so good that people can't find words to describe it? Or is it that bad? Or is everyone just lazy? -- Oh well, I got another review, so I'm inspired to write again.

Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda, Miyamoto does. I do, however, own a copy of Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time (and Master Quest), Four Swords, and I own my character, Tarin.

Author's note: I changed the title of Chapter 5. I have also decided not to make this part into two parts.

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That night, Tarin had the dream again. He burst through the fog and found himself on the bridge again, but this time, he could identify the riders as they galloped past—a woman and a child—before he was knocked into the water. In addition to feeling cold and wet upon waking, however, he felt something hard hit his head and the sound of giggling.

"Ow! What the…?"

Tarin opened his eyes and found himself staring into another pair of dark eyes set in a round, brown-colored face. Tarin yelled at the face, which yelled back, and Tarin scrambled into a seated position. A few seconds later, Tarin managed a nervous laugh, since the face staring at him had belonged to a young Goron, who was currently curled into a ball nearby. The Goron's friends stared at Tarin fearfully, as if he were going to attack. Some were holding small rocks, and Tarin knew what had hit his head.

"Hey," he said to the curled-up Goron, "are you okay? I'm sorry I yelled, but you scared me." He patted the speckled surface and looked around at the others. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. See?" He held up his hands, palms facing outward, to show that he did indeed have no weapons. The other Gorons relaxed a bit, and Tarin smiled at them. He stood up, grabbing his pack as he went, and scanned the area.

Apparently, he had fallen asleep at the side of a circular pathway. On either side of him, the floor curved away, creating a half circle from which a handful of square doorways led. In the middle of the half circle was a small island of rock, suspended either by magic or by the four ropes extending from it to the main pathway. Tarin cautiously approached the edge of the path and peered over the edge. Below him, there was another circular pathway with more doorways leading who knows where, and below that, a circular shaped area of floor. The second pathway disappeared for a bit into a tunnel, and as Tarin watched, a large boulder emerged from the tunnel and rolled along the path. He would have to watch out for that. Here and there Tarin spotted other Gorons, both adults and children, going about their daily lives. The thing Tarin was most interested in, however, was the floating island.

Standing on the island was a young Goron, and beside him, embedded in a stone tablet, was a large red gem. The Goron's Ruby, Tarin was sure of it. The only problem was, it was over there, he wasn't, and he wasn't sure how sturdy the ropes were. He walked over to one of the ropes and placed a foot on it. It sagged just a little bit, but not enough to deter Tarin, so he placed his other foot on it and began tight roping across. About a foot from the island, Tarin jumped off and landed in front of the stone tablet. He moved towards it and reached for the stone, but his hand was grabbed suddenly.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the Goron guard demanded, keeping a firm grip on Tarin's arm.

"I…uh…just…wanted to look at the Stone," Tarin stammered, trying to pull his hand away. It didn't work too well.

"No one is allowed to touch the Goron's Ruby except for Darunia," the Goron explained rather testily, as if he had said it more times than he had the patience for. He let go of Tarin's hand and shoved the boy away.

"Okay, okay. I get it. I'll go." Tarin turned around and made his way across the rope bridge, where he turned around, stuck his tongue out at the Goron guarding the Ruby, misjudged his step, and toppled off the ledge.

"Uh…ah…Aaahh!"

Fortunately, he managed to land on his hands and knees, minimizing the pain. Unfortunately, he landed right in the path of the rolling boulder and had to dive into one of the doorways to avoid it. Also unfortunately for him, it happened to be a staircase that he dove into and spent the next couple seconds rolling head over heels downwards, finally stopping at the bottommost level.

"Ouch. This place hurts." Tarin checked his body to make sure nothing was broken, but everything was alright. He spotted a Goron who had just emerged from a doorway. "Hey, you…um…do you know where Darunia is?"

"He is in his room," came the reply. The Goron had a higher voice; perhaps it was a female. "He hasn't been out much for the past few weeks. No one has been able to talk to him."

"Where is his room? I need to talk to him," Tarin asked.

The female Goron pointed behind Tarin to a doorway decorated with a piece of cloth across the top and a rug in front. It was the only door Tarin had seen so far in the city that was closed. He walked over to it and put his hand on the slab of rock. He knocked on it a couple times, but nothing happened.

…_the song of the royal family…_

The woman's voice entered Tarin's head again, telling him again of the song. What was that about? What was he supposed to do about it? Listen for it?

…_play it…_

"Play the song?" Tarin asked nobody in particular. Frowning, he took out his ocarina and played the song he had heard the mysterious young man play at home. To his utter surprise, the rock slab moved up and out of sight, revealing a dark passage. Tarin took a couple steps inside and within ten seconds saw a large and wild-looking Goron. The room was fairly large, and well lit by numerous torches, except for the tiny hallway Tarin was standing in. There were four Goron-like statues and some pots lined up on a shelf against the wall to Tarin's left.

"Darunia?"

"Who's there?"

"My name's Tarin," Tarin replied, stepping into the light. "Prin—I mean Zelda sent me here. To get the Spiritual Stone." He took the Stone out of his pocket and showed it to Darunia.

Darunia looked at the Stone for a long time before speaking. "Yes, I knew she would. She is not the only one who can sense the coming evil."

_Coming evil?_ Tarin was confused. Were the Stones supposed to protect against evil?

"Tarin," Darunia spoke again, "I believe your story, but I cannot just give you the Stone."

"What! Why not?"

"That wouldn't be fair." Darunia smiled. "One year ago, another young boy came to this city, also searching for the Stone. At that time, we were in the midst of a famine, brought about by the evil Gerudo Ganondorf, who blocked the cave below, cutting off our food supply. The boy volunteered to unblock the cave and vanquished the evil within. I gave him the Stone and he left."

During the story, Tarin had been moving around the room, examining the pots, statues, and even the torch brackets. He turned back to Darunia. "How did you get it _back_?"

"It was returned to me by the Princess."

"Oh. So to get it from you, do I have to go something like that other boy?" Tarin leaned against the wall and wrapped his tail around a torch pole.

"I _do_ have something I'd like to request of you…" Tarin could have sworn that Darunia smiled a bit.

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Well, how was it? Good? Bad? Ugly:D Review, people! Please? If I got the Goron's name wrong, someone please tell me. I think it's right, but I'm not entirely sure. 


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